Monday, December 27, 2004

This Is a Bit Long, But...

... it's definitely worth reading. Joe Gandelman posted a long, thoughtful Christmas Eve piece on blogging in general, the relationships between left and right wing bloggers, and the value in exposing yourself (no.. not that way, you perv) to material from both sides of the aisle. There's a ton more, but this part really stuck with me.

Political emotions in the 21st Century means demonization of one's opponents and the definition of them: trying to stick people with whom you disagree into little, easily recognizable slots, hopefully detestable little slots, so the emotions (calling someone a name or dismissing them as an ideological hack) can supplement the intellectual task (making a political point). The whole culture -- talk radio on the left and right, blogs, the nature of modern political campaigns -- is dominated by demonization and opponent-definition. In Hollywood they do a different version of this to market movies so that in a sentence their idea is communicated: it's called high concept.

He has a lot to say about the way bloggers communicate and interact with their readers, other bloggers, and the media. He also touches on the dangers of cocooning, one of my favorite topics. Give it a look... you'll be glad you did.

"War is, and must always remain, the course of last resort. It represents the complete and utter failure of diplomacy and all other forms of civilized conflict resolution. A pre-emptive war must be the very last choice, only to be entered into after long, sober consideration. It must be embarked upon only with a broad base of consent among our global neighbors after we jointly reach the sad conclusion that there is simply no other choice, and that we face a clear and present danger to the rest of the world."